We collected AIS information on fishing vessels operating near Jeju Island, and analyzed appearance density of the Chinese fishing vessels and inferred the movements of the fishing grounds. AIS information was received from October 16, 2016 to October 16, 2017 and stored on a hard disk through a program called AisDecoder. Unauthorized fishing vessels within the Exclusive Fisheries Agreement Zone (EFAZ) operated near the EFAZ boundary, and the frequency of appearance of fishing vessels were high in the middle waters of Korea and Japan, 252 and 250 fishing zones. Chinese fishing vessels authorized to enter appeared scattered outside the Prohibiting Fishing Zone of the Large Trawlers (PFZLT), and the closer they were to the PFZLT boundary, the higher the appearance density. And the appearance of Chinese fishing vessels with a speed from 0 to 3 knots was mostly outside the EFAZ, showing high density in the waters close to the boundary between Korea and Japan. On the other hand, within the EFAZ, the frequency of appearance of Chinese fishing vessels was also low and scattered. The appearance of Chinese fishing vessels with a speed from 3 to 5 knots mostly shows some variability within the EFAZ, but the frequency of appearance was high and the density was high. The seasonal appearance of Chinese fishing vessels in the waters south of Jeju Island appeared in the southwest in the autumn and then moved south and southeast of Jeju Island in the winter, and in the spring and summer. They were considered going to other fishing grounds without fishing in the waters south of Jeju Island.

Reproductive ecology of rabbit fish, Siganus fuscescens were investigated from samples collected monthly in the coastal waters off Jeju Island of Korea from February to December 2014. In male and female of S. fuscescens, the values of GSI were reached high values between July to August in which the water temperature was high, and then decreased until December. The occurrence of individuals which have mature eggs in ovary were higher from July to August. Therefore, a main spawning season was estimated from July to August, with the highest peak in July. Throughout histological observation of the ovary in the spawning period, S. fuscescens belong to an group-synchronous and has a one spawning season a year. Fecundity of ovary ranged from 380,000 to 2,600,000 during the spawning period. Size at 50% sexual maturity, determined from logistic equation, were 25.1 cm TL which is over two years.

We found ten species of larvae belonging to the family Pleuronectidae as a result of analysis on ichthyoplankton collected monthly from the East Sea, Yellow Sea, Korea Strait and East China Sea between February 2016 and May 2018 using bongo net. The ten species of pleuronectid larvae were divided into three groups in morphology. Group A had three or four bars on the lateral side of the tail: Glyptocephalus stelleri, G. kitaharae, Pseudopleuronectes yokohamae, and Hippoglossoides dubius. Group B had a row of melanophores along the dorsal and ventral side of tail: Cleisthenes pinetorum, Eopsetta grigorjewi, Dexistes rikuzenius, and Platichthys bicoloratus. Group C had dense melanophores which are covering trunk and tail entirely except caudal peduncle: Platichthys cornutus and Platichthys japonicus. The three groups did not associate with previous molecular phylogenetic studies except for the G. stelleri and G. kitaharae of the group A.

The feeding habits of the bighead croaker Collichthys niveatus were studied using 745 specimens collected by bottom trawl net in the West Sea, Korea, in April and October of 2016, 2017 and 2018. The size of C. niveatus ranged from 4.8 to 16.0 cm in total length. The stomach contents analysis indicated that C. niveatus consumed mainly euphausiids and copepods. C. niveatus consumed mainly euphausiids and copepods in all size classes. The dietary compositions of C. niveatus was not significantly different among size classes (One-way ANOVA, P > 0.05). As body size of C. niveatus increased, the mean weight of prey per stomach (mW/ST) tended to increase.

The diet composition of Arctoscopus japonicus was studied using 448 specimens collected in the coastal waters of East Sea, Korea. The size of the specimens ranged from 6.2-25.3 cm in total length (TL). A. japonicus were fed mainly on amphipods that constituted 76.1% in IRI. Euphausiids were the second largest prey component. The diets also include small quantities of crabs, copepods, mysids, cephalopods, monogeneans, and fishes. A. japonicus showed ontogenetic changes in feeding habits. Smaller individuals (6-10 cm, TL) fed mainly on amphipods. The proportion of amphipods decreased as body size increased, whereas the consumption of euphausiids gradually increased (10-14 cm, TL). As the body size more increased, the proportion of amphipods increased whereas euphausiids decreased (14-26 cm, TL).

Although mud shrimp (Upogebia Major) provides benefits on the tidal flat ecosystem, it is causing the mass mortality of Manila clam (Tapes philippinarum) and large economic loss to the aquaculture farmer due to spreading in the entire coastal clam farm area of the West Sea of Korea. In this study, a mud shrimp blocking box for cultivating clam was tested to prevent the mud shrimp from invading the habitat of the clam. To determine the effect of the blocking box, the growth characteristics of the clams under various culture conditions were investigated. The shell length, total weight, condition index, the presence of mud shrimp in the box, and the soil decay in the box were examined according to whether the clams were raised in the box or in natural state, whether the box is covered with a net or not and the gap size of the box. As a result, no significant differences in shell length, total weight, and condition index were found between the clam grown in the box and the natural state (P>0.05) without any evidence of invading of mud shrimp to the box. In addition, the soil inside the box was in good condition, not decayed. Therefore, using the mud shrimp blocking box, mud shrimp can be prevented from propagating to the habitat of the clam, thereby contributing to the normal production of the clam and thus to restoring the clam farming.

This study identified the characteristics of squid jig in korea waters by investigating the effect of color and luminous performance of squid jig on the catch of squid and experimenting the result of jig according to green jig or white jig, and whether using luminous or not were tested in the sea to improve the jig of squid jigging. For this purpose, a total of 13 sea experiments were conducted using T/S No. 2 Galmaegi. As a result, 341 squids were caught. Among them, 221 squids were caught by green jig (64.8%), 64 squids were caught by white jig (18.8%), 41 squids were caught by green luminous jig (13.8%), and nine squids were caught by white luminous jig (2.6%). The green jig commonly used in jigging vessel was most effective, and luminous jig was less effective than that non-luminous jig. The squids caught were Japanese flying squid (Todarodes pacificus), swordtip squid (Loligo edulis) and spear squid (Loligo bleekeri), and no significant characteristics were found according to the color of jig and the presence of luminous.

As a series of fundamental researches on the development of an automatic identification monitoring system for fishing gear. Firstly, the study on the installation method of automated identification buoy for the coastal improvement net fishing net with many loss problems on the west coast was carried out. Secondly, the study was conducted find out how to install an automatic identification buoy for coastal gill net which has the highest loss rate among the fisheries. GPS for fishing was used six times in the coastal waters around Seogwipo city in Jeju Island to determine the developmental status and underwater behavior to conduct a field survey. Next, a questionnaire was administered in parallel on the type of loss and the quantity and location of fishing gear to be developed and the water transmitter. In the field experiment, the data collection was possible from a minimum of 13 hours, ten minutes to a maximum of 20 hours and ten minutes using GPS, identifying the development status and underwater behavior of the coastal gillnet fishing gear. The result of the survey showed that the loss of coastal net fishing gear was in the following order: net (27.3%), full fishing gear (24.2%), buoys, and anchors (18.2%). The causes were active algae (50.0%), fish catches (33.3%) and natural disasters (12.5%). To solve this problem, the installation method is to attach one and two electronic buoys to top of each end of the fishing gear, and one underwater transmitter at both ends of the float line connected to the anchor. By identifying and managing abnormal conditions such as damage or loss of fishing gear due to external factors such as potent algae and cutting of fishing gear, loss of fishing gear can be reduced. If the lost fishing gear is found, it will be efficiently collected.

The mesh selectivity of hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus) caught by coastal drift gill net was examined in field experiments with three different mesh sizes (45, 50 and 55 mm) from October to November, 2013 in the coastal areas of south-west of Jeju province. The mesh selectivity tests were conducted with the experimental net to be set middle part of conventional driftnets. The mesh selectivity tests were carried out the total of four times. The selectivity curve was estimated by the Kitahara’s and Fujimori’s method. In the results, the catch number of hairtail was 653 (125.8 kg) and occupied 34.8% in total catches weight. The optimal mesh size for 50% selection on the minimum landing size (180 mm, AL) and the first maturity size (260 mm, AL) of hairtail were estimated as 47.2 mm and 64.5 mm by master selectivity curves, respectively.